Alice in Wonderland Halloween party was no secret, W.H. says

By Byron Tau

01/08/12 05:55 PM EST

A White House official told POLITICO Sunday that a Halloween party thrown for military families in 2009 was no secret and that there was no conspiracy to cover-up the role of two well-known Hollywood figures.

In her new book "The Obamas," Jodi Kantor reports that the White House communications staff was concerned about the optics of the Obamas hosting a star-studded 'Alice in Wonderland'-themed Halloween party in a time of economic misery. As a result, Kantor reports, they did not highlight the role that director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp played at the event. Burton helped decorate the White House for the party, while Depp attended in costume as the Mad Hatter.

Several news outlets, including Fox News, the New York Post and others characterized the party as "secret."

"This was an event for local school children from the Washington DC area and for hundreds of military families. If we wanted this event to be a secret, we probably wouldn't have invited the press corps to cover it, release photos of it to Flickr, or post a video from it on the White House website," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement. "Even Johnny Depp’s fans knew about it and posted on their website. Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read in books these days."

The official White House social media releases and the reporter pool dispatches from the party do not mention either Burton or Depp, but the Depp fan site JohnnyDeppNews.com reported that the actor was in attendance with Burton. And the Nashville Tennessean also reported that both Depp and Burton were at the White House for the party. Then-White House press secretary Robert Gibbs addressed the event in his briefing, but did not go into any detail.

UPDATE 2/2/2012: Author Jodi Kantor emails: "The reporting in my book on the 2009 Halloween celebrations is accurate. Here is the key distinction, which I explained on page 132: the trick or treating that took place outside was well-documented, with photographs that were released, pool reports, and so on. But the party inside the White House, which Tim Burton and Johnny Depp contributed to, was kept quiet. The White House never acknowledged their contributions, did not allow the pool reporter inside, etc. The Washington Post checked this independently as well. "